Which NFL teams are the hungriest?

New England Patriots NFL football head coach Bill Belichick speaks to reporters in Foxborough, Mass., Wednesday, July 24, 2013. Belichick broke his silence four weeks after former Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez was charged with murder. Belichick says the Patriots will learn from "this terrible experience," and that it's time for New England to "move forward." (AP Photo/Josh Reynolds)
— AP

New England Patriots NFL football head coach Bill Belichick speaks to reporters in Foxborough, Mass., Wednesday, July 24, 2013. Belichick broke his silence four weeks after former Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez was charged with murder. Belichick says the Patriots will learn from "this terrible experience," and that it's time for New England to "move forward." (AP Photo/Josh Reynolds)
/ AP

Krasovic’s Rule on what makes a football champion: Talented players are needed but without a deep, widespread hunger to win at all costs – or close to all costs – talent won’t bring home the trophy.

So when sizing up a football team, weigh the hunger.

In the college game, the Bo Derek on the hunger scale is Nick Saban, Alabama's coach and de facto state governor.

While other SEC coaches sleep, Saban devises new grip techniques for his long-snapper.

Quick story: Saban used to coach the Miami Dolphins, and instructed office assistants not to smile at him or say hello, lest he waste precious seconds on chit chat.

His Bama football staff is Pentagon-sized. The Tide is aiming to win his fourth crystal trophy in five years. Lesson: wacko wins.

In the NFL, where 90-hour work weeks are the norm, linebacker Ray Lewis set the hunger bar for 21st Century players.

Lewis as a youth dreamed of playing linebacker for Florida State. He rejoiced when the Seminoles offered him a scholarship. When they also told him he’d have to redshirt behind Derrick Brooks – a future pro Hall of Famer – Ray chose Miami.

Entering the NFL, he was on the shrimpy side. So he gained 25 pounds of muscle, while continuing to run very fast.

Studying opponents, he watched more film than Roger Ebert did in his career as a movie critic.

When the Ravens prepped for the Super Bowl last winter, Sports Illustrated reported that Lewis had spent thousands of dollars on deer antler spray for its reputed (and experts say non-existent) performance-enhancing properties.

Lewis during the playoffs had come back from a torn triceps suffered in October, an injury that Ravens coach John Harbaugh had said would end his season.

In the playoffs, 37-year-old Ray played every snap in the overtime game at frigid Denver, where the Ravens won in an upset.

On the Ray Lewis Football Hunger Scale, with 10 the best, most NFL players or teams don't rate a five.

It’s by that scale that we’ll weigh NFL contenders in coming weeks.

We start with the Patriots.

Ray Lewis Scale (RLS) rating: 8.5.

Beware, Pats haters. That’s a dangerously high score.

The head coach, aside from being a brilliant football teacher and innovator, is the only NFL coach convicted of and punished for spying illegally on an opponent. Bill Belichick therefore gets bonus points for a hunger to “win at all costs or close to all costs.”

Because the pass-catching corps looks iffy -- Wes Welker joined the Broncos and murder suspect Aaron Hernandez could be catching passes in prison -- the vultures are circling, which makes Belichick more dangerous.

Hoodie is usually a step ahead. A year ago, he began to build the running game and the defense into better-than-average units.

Like his 61-year-old coach, the quarterback knows he’s closer to the end of his career than the middle. Tom Brady, 36, says it’s Super Bowl or bust every year. Wife Gisele is a supermodel who blamed Welker for the Super Bowl loss two winters ago. We since haven't heard much from Gisele. Take that as a sign that her husband is obsessed with a fourth Lombardi trophy.

The owner is an NFL power broker who says Russian president Vladimir Putin stole one of his three Super Bowl rings.

Robert Kraft's dilemma: Go to Moscow and steal the ring back from Putin, who began his government career in the KGB, or bribe his Patriots to reach New Jersey, site of the next Super Bowl.